Selecting and Driving Monolayer Structures through Tailored Intermolecular Interactions

摘要

The development of self-and directed-assembly techniques is key for the fabrication of molecularly precise structures for applications ranging from biocompatible and/or bioactive systems to microelectronics. These applications now demand patterned surface structures with ever smaller features down to the sub-100 nm scale; however,traditional lithographic techniques such as photolithography cannot reproducibly fabricate such structures with molecular-scale organization. By employing a library of molecules with a spectrum of intermolecular-interaction strengths in conjunction with a variety of thin-film-processing techniques,it is becoming possible to fabricate nanometer-sized surface features with molecular precision.